Quivira Coalition

The Quivira Coalition’s mission is to build resilience on western working landscapes by fostering ecological, economic and social health through education, innovation, collaboration, and progressive public and private land stewardship. Quivira was founded in 1997 by two conservationists and a rancher to work at the “Radical Center,” where people come together to explore their common interests rather than argue their differences. We believe that this is where real change happens, on the actual landscape of Aldo Leopold’s “back forty.”

Our overarching goals are to:

• Foster the Radical Center, the diversity of ranchers, environmentalists, scientists and public land managers who steward working landscapes in the western US and throughout the world
• Disseminate innovative ideas and techniques for progressive grassland and riparian regeneration, with a focus on food production, economic diversification and collaboration across boundaries
• Educate and empower the next generation of food producers and progressive land stewards
• Inspire and support hope in an era of increasing environmental and economic instability

Current activities include:

• Producing the annual Quivira Conference, which brings together diverse constituencies from around the world to explore and celebrate regenerative land stewardship
• Developing our Land and Water consulting service and land management toolbox in order to broadly disseminate land health solutions and soil-based, carbon mitigation strategies that are already at work on many public and private lands
• Conducting on-the-ground riparian and grassland restoration projects that include workshops and other low-cost, hands-on learning opportunities for the broader Quivira community
• Expanding our New Agrarian Program to provide apprenticeships, internships and professional networking opportunities for young people throughout the Southwest who are committed to careers at the intersection of natural resource management and regenerative food production
• Partnering with tribal communities to revive all aspects of land and community health, with a focus on revitalizing local food systems
• Conducting outreach and publication activities, including a membership program, the Quivira website and e-newsletter, an annual journal (Resilience), and occasional technical reports, manuals and field guides  

Quivira programs serve ranchers and farmers, conservationists, scientists, teachers and students, government and tribal agency personnel, and business people committed to progressive natural resources management. Quivira’s collaborative efforts have directly benefited more than 1 million acres of rangeland, 32 linear miles of riparian drainages and more than 15,000 people. The results from a recent survey showed that the Quivira community is currently influencing the stewardship of at least 5.27 million acres throughout the United States.